"Has Ace already been captured?"
With Blackbeard now a Warlord of the Sea, the start of the Marineford War seemed imminent.
Vivian, who had also learned this news from the newspaper, sat thoughtfully in his chair.
Meanwhile, Fujitora, Magellan, Hannyabal, and Domino were gathered around a square table, each holding a set of mahjong tiles. The atmosphere was tense.
"One… one dot," Magellan played a tile, nervously watching the expressions of Fujitora and the others, his face covered in sweat.
"Peng!"
Hannyabal took the tile and played a three bamboo, muttering to himself, "Why hasn't anyone played a six dot yet? If someone plays a six dot, I'll win. Six dot, six dot, six dot. That damn Magellan, being the warden for so many years, earning so much money, and never losing to make us happy…"
Magellan: "…"
Everyone: "…"
"Did you just say what you were thinking out loud again?" Fujitora laughed heartily as he drew a tile.
He found the people in this prison quite amusing.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I let it slip…" Hannyabal apologized to Magellan, "I didn't mean it."
At the same time, Domino said, "Twenty thousand."
"Mahjong!" Fujitora revealed his winning hand, his smile growing even wider.
"Pay up, pay up, this time it's fifty thousand Berries."
Domino: o(╥﹏╥)o
After just three hours of playing mahjong, she had already lost nearly four hundred thousand Berries.
As a deputy head jailer, her monthly salary was only about four hundred thousand. Losing a month's salary in three hours was a bit too much.
"I… I quit." Domino stood up.
Although mahjong was indeed addictive, her brain seemed a bit slow, and if she kept losing like this, she would soon be bankrupt.
"I quit too," Magellan said, standing up.
It wasn't because he was losing money, but because his stomach was acting up again, and he needed to rush to the bathroom on the fourth floor.
"I'll play," Vivian said to Domino. "Let's play for smaller stakes, five hundred Berries per round, how about that?"
Domino hesitated.
"Come on, play," Vivian smiled, pressing Domino back into her seat. "If you lose too much, you can always owe it and pay later with something else."
"Something else?" Domino asked curiously. "What do you mean?"
"You'll find out later."
…
Since no prisoners were transported today and there were no disturbances, Vivian, Hannyabal, Fujitora, and Domino spent the entire day playing mahjong.
Hannyabal, who always accidentally revealed the tiles he needed to win, lost the most, around six to seven hundred thousand Berries.
Next was Domino.
Even with the stakes lowered to five hundred Berries per round, she still lost nearly a hundred thousand Berries. Her slow thinking and eagerness to play made her quite endearing to Vivian.
As for Fujitora…
He earned nearly a million Berries in one day. The speed at which he made money was almost like robbery.
"Uncle Issho, I suggest you tone it down a bit if you want to keep playing mahjong with them," Vivian said.
If we keep playing Mahjong at this intensity every day, there won't be anyone left in Impel Down to play with Fujitora within a week.
"I seem to have a bit of a talent for Mahjong…" Fujitora said.
In the past, when gambling, Fujitora rarely used his Observation Haki due to his blindness and for the sake of fun. This often led to people with bad intentions trying to cheat him. For example, on BBQ Island, Jack's men would lie to Fujitora about the dice results, saying he lost even when he won. This is why Fujitora usually lost more than he won when gambling.
But now it was different. Mahjong didn't require eyesight, just touch. Fujitora even felt that this game was designed by Vivian specifically for him, which touched him deeply.
"By the way, Vivian, why didn't you collect Miss Domino's debt? What do you want her to do?" Fujitora asked.
"Oh, that. You'll see soon enough."
…
The next day.
First floor above the sea.
"Vivian, another batch of prisoners has arrived. Go handle their intake," Domino said, walking up to Vivian, who was playing Mahjong with Fujitora.
"New prisoners?"
Vivian blinked. "Deputy Head Jailer, how about this: didn't you owe me 100,000 Berries from gambling yesterday? If you help me escort prisoners, I'll reduce your debt by 500 Berries for each one. How about that?"
"Reduce by 500?"
Under her sunglasses, Domino's eyes suddenly lit up with dollar signs.
"No, reduce by 1000."
"Deal," Vivian nodded.
With that, Domino grabbed the list and ran off excitedly.
Fujitora: "…"
Can you really do that?
Vivian had everything planned out from the start. It seems I still have a lot to learn from him about dealing with people…
With Jailer Chief Sadi taking Domino's place, they played Mahjong for another two hours. Vivian, who had won nearly 150,000 Berries, was about to let others win a bit when suddenly, Magellan arrived on the first floor via the elevator from the fourth floor.
"Hey, Director, want to play a few rounds of Mahjong?" Vivian greeted with a smile.
"No," Magellan waved his hand. "An important prisoner is being transported to Impel Down and has entered the whirlpool sea. I need to personally escort him."
"An important prisoner?"
The four playing Mahjong stopped what they were doing.
"Yes," Magellan nodded. "It's Portgas D. Ace, the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, with a bounty of 550 million Berries."
"550 million?" Both Sadi and Hannyabal gasped.
Vivian squinted his eyes and then stood up, saying, "I'll go with you."